IPOH, May 14 — A police officer, DSP Mohd Nazri Abdul Razak, pleaded not guilty in the High Court here today to a charge of murdering a Form Five student in a road crash near a school here last year.

Mohd Nazri, 46, was charged with murdering Muhammad Zaharif Affendi Muhd Zamrie, 17, at Jalan Taman Jati 1, near Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Jati, Ipoh, between 12.05pm and 12.40pm on December 15, 2023.

The charge was framed under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which provides a death sentence or imprisonment for a minimum of 30 years or a maximum of 40 years and if not sentenced to death must be whipped with not less than 12 lashes, if found guilty.

Judge Bhupindar Singh Gurcharan Singh Preet set the hearing for 30 days, from November 4 to January 17 next year.

He also set July 1 for mention for the submission of documents.

Earlier, Deputy Public Prosecutor Afzainizam Abdul Aziz informed the court that the prosecution needed one month to submit the documents and would call 60 witnesses to testify.

"The prosecution needs time to finalise the list of witnesses and documents to hand over to the lawyer. We need to examine the documents because this case involves 60 witnesses and experts,” he said.

Afzainizam is assisted by deputy public prosecutors Saiful Akmal Mod Said and Nasrul Hadi Abdul Ghani.

Lawyer Jacky Loi Yap Loong, assisted by lawyers Lim Chi Chau and M. Kuhan, representing Mohd Nazri, told the court that they had filed a notice regarding the bail application for their client.

However, the prosecution said they did not receive an affidavit regarding the notice.

Judge Bhupindar Singh then ordered both parties to settle the exchange of affidavits before he decided on the bail application.

Also present are lawyers Yasmin Khalid and Amira Najwafitri Amir Arif, who were holding a watching brief for the victim’s family. — Bernama